Hey guys, I’m working in a garage where the outlets share a circuit breaker and when I turn on tools there is a momentary power fluctuation. Im wondering if anyone knows weather this will affect the carve if i do it while its running?
I’m in the same boat. It all comes down to the amount of amps being used and how many amps are drawn on startup. There’s two ways to do it:
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Calculate. Add up the amps being used by your spindle, power supply, shopvac/dust collector, computer, and anything else on the circuit. Add 1 for a little room for error, then subtract it all from your circuit breaker’s limit. That lets you know how many amps are left. Assume the startup current for the new equipment will be at least 5 times its rated current, and see if that will work.
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Experiment. Start carving a series of full lines in some scrap with a large bit (1/4" or larger if possible, larger bits will be less likely to break). Once it’s going, start up the other power tool and see what happens. Keep in mind that this may be a crapshoot, since some startups may not trip while others may. I wouldn’t recommend ever running big tools off the same circuit when you’re in the middle of a big carve…
If you can find a way to use another circuit, I’d suggest that. I have 2 circuits in my garage, one on the wall and one that was supposed to be for a garage door opener. The X-Carve is powered on the wall circuit, while the shopvac and other tools are powered off the overhead circuit. Worst case, the tool trips the vacuum off and I have some dust to clean up.
to play it safe I would always leave the x-carve and the computer running it on a dedicated circuit you don’t want the x-carve or router to loose power
also its best to have the router on a separate circuit than the electronics
I remeber when I bought my new 4x8 cnc machine and put it in the garage I had to run
3 dedicated 120 20 amp circuits
2 dedicated 30 amp 240v circuits
5 circuits that are not shared by anything else to run 1 machine lol
just for the machine itself not including and electric for any other tool i wnated to use lol
Thanks for tips guys, I really appreciate it. guess ill have to beef up the electrical in here. Im thinking of moving my shop into the basement for the winter as it gets pretty cold up here some hopefully ill be able to dedicate a circuit to the x carve. Thanks again!
Great info from @RobertA_Rieke and @WorkinWoods
My retired electrician neighbor and all the reading that I have done has always gone with 2-3 times running current for Startup current.
I did some math on the AMPS / circuit for the X-Carve
shop vac 4.5 peak HP =9.5amps
shop vac 6.5 peak HP =12amps
Dewalt DWP611 = 7amps
X-Carve with 24VDC 400watts PS =6.5amps
Avg. DELL PC off the shelf 240watt PS =2amps (could be 3-4amps for PC that have larger PS)
20" LCD Monitor 26watts (+or-10watts, size 24" and brand) =.26amps
So monitor and PC lets round up to 3amps
A outlet in the avg house are 15amp or 20amp, that can change on the age of the house, the room the the outlet is in (the NEC has rules that vary per type of room) With that said Your Garage could (should if new or upgraded) have 20amp circuit moving to the Basement could only have 15amp circiut, just FYI.
With my math above the X-carve uses 13.5amp that should take one 15 or 20amp circuit (edit:should use a 20amp since 13.5amps is over the 80% load rule of a 15amp circuit) and the PC/monitor and ShopVac 12.5 to 15amp would need a 15amp circuit for a lesser power shopvac and a 20amp circuit for the higher power shopvac.
Hope this helps
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Nice numbers, thanks! At work we figure 7 times for startup current, but that’s with older and larger equipment like compressors the size of vehicles. The X-Carve is like a hot wheels truck compared to things like that. 
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Keep in mind that you should only plan for 80 percent through a breaker. 15 amp would be 12 amps and the 20 amp breaker would be 16 amps.
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@LarryM True! Thanks for adding that good info! I was trying to stay under 500 words and/or information over load. (haha) But that is info that should not be over looked. and to anyone reading this DON"T just upgrade the breaker, the wire gauge and circuit breaker need to be matched or you could have a house fire.
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I run my Shopvac, X-carve, X-controller, Laptop and Lights, all off one circuit in my garage.
Oh yeah. No issues. Ever.
Check first. Put out house fires later. jk jk.
this question cant be answered because it depends on your home installation. Lots of people have issues. Lots don’t.
Try it out to see if it works for you. Or be safe and never run anything concurrent with your xcarve.
But asking here won’t give you an answer, i can tell you that!
When I bought my house it came with an unfinished basement and very few electrical outlets. Since I knew that I was going to outfit a shop down there, I had an electrician friend come over and wire up 3 additional 20 amp circuits, with outlet plugs placed in strategic locations. One circuit is dedicated to my Harbor Freight Dust Collector. The rest are used for tools and LED shop Lights. I try not to have more than one tool at a time running on any given circuit.
I think a lot also depends on the service available to your home and available total amperage. If it makes anyone feel better, I have two x-carves, two computers + montitors, and two shop vacs running simultaneously on a 20 amp cirtcuit and have not popped the breaker yet. I think the softstarts on the routers really help.
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that just sounds like a fire waiting to happen
I really don’t think that will make anyone feel at ease with that lol
I would think a breaker would trip before a fire. No?
Dude… just wait for the comment onslaught… what gauge wire did you run to the shed, how far is the shed, is it in a conduit, what kind of conduit, below the frost line, does the power enter high enough on your shed, is the box blessed by magical fairies, do you actually own that shed… who is listed as your beneficiary… etc. This is NOT the place to ask that question and for the love of GOD, don’t take any advice you receive on this forum unless it is X-Carve specific. No one has any idea of your capabilities, but this thread is two years old. So…
@EusebioSoliz. Consult a licensed electrician who can actually look at your project and make recommendations or better yet do the work for you
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I cannot agree enough. I am lucky enough that my neighbor is an elechicken and he helped guide my shop power systems.